Some big names in science also spoke out this month about the risks associated with autonomous robots and artificial intelligence, as well as their potential. Stephen Hawking and a number of other leading scientists discussed what AI has to offer and why we might need to take the risks linked to it more seriously. And Rodney Brooks spoke about what robots can and cannot do, and argued that autonomous or intelligent robots are not necessarily a bad or scary thing.

The robots and jobs question was reignited this month when Amazon announced that it will have 10,000 robots in its warehouses by the end of this year. Amazon said that despite the increase in robots, they will not be reducing the number of people employed in their warehouses, supporting the idea that robots maybe best seen as co-workers rather than competitors. In developed economies, at least, robots seem to create high quality jobs through the reshoring, and are here to stay in many industries.

Another hot topic on Robohub this month was the announcement of the winners of the Robot Launch competition, the first ever global robotics competition, run jointly by Robohub and Silicon Valley Robotics. The grand winner was Leka, a startup from France that develops intuitive and intelligent toys for autistic children, supporting children’s learning and development.

However, robots don’t just have the potential to help with cleaning or care of the eldery, and this was demonstrated once more this May when robots were deployed after the South Korean ferry disaster to survey the wreck and to support the rescue operation.

Also in the news this May: at the SOLID conference in Fort Mason, Robohub’s very own Andra Keay gave a keynote speech asking “Are robots the new black?”; and, last but not least, the robotics community bid farewell to Professor Rolf Pfeifer this month, who announced his retirement after 30 years in AI. Robohub wishes him well.